The Best Option
by Sieben
Summary: FlackOC. Amys work visa is running out and Mac only makes it worse, but no worries, Danny has an idea. And then things start to go well until...well, read to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**The Best Option**

A Flack/oc story, because I think there is a big shortage of them.

And all the talk about the forms and immigration in this story is made up, I have no idea how it's really done. Other than that enjoy and don't forget to comment if you like it or I won't post the ending.

(And this story happens before CoTP)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters or anything from CSI:NY, only Amy, Holly and Tammy.

_(Noticed now they all end with 'Y's, funny how that happened)_

csi:ny

"You done with your hit and run?", Danny asked as he poured himself a coffee.

Stella looked up from her own cup, "yeah, just having a quick once over on the report before I hand it in, and you?"

"Oh yeah, didn't have to do much, the girl practically confessed the second she realized we were cops", he laughed as he sat down next to Stella.

As they chatted Amy came into the break room looking all hot and bothered.

Danny leaned towards Stella to whisper, "watch it, she's in a hellish mood".

"Have you asked why?", Stella quietly asked him,

"No, I figured if she wanted to talk she would you know" he said and shrugged his shoulders.

Stella glared at him, typical Danny, avoid any confrontation possible.

"Amy, something bothering you?" Stella asked in a sweet tone. Stella was a good listener and sometimes that was all people needed.

Amy flopped down on the chair opposite Danny and Stella and heaved a big sigh, "I got a letter from immigration this morning, it wasn't exactly the letter I've been waiting for." She hanged her head.

"What do you mean?", Danny asked.

"They can impossible reject you now, you've worked so hard!", Stella felt outraged.

Amy, being from the United Kingdom had been working as a CSI in the US on a work visa for the past year now, but after a year you have to apply for American citizenship, and Amy had done just that. The paper work had taken over a month to complete and for the last week she, and her friends, had been waiting for the letter that confirmed she was a legal citizen of New York.

"I know, but apparently I missed one form, and I think I know which one.."

"Well get a new form and go get some stamps!", Danny said relaxing a bit, "problem solved", he smiled leaning back in his chair.

Amy laughed at him, but her laugh was short lived, this was too serious to laugh about right now.

"It would have been nice if it was that simple, but if you miss one you have to start from the beginning, stupid really."

Stella, taking it much more seriously then Danny, asked the more important question, "How much time until your work visa expires?"

Amy looked up, "two weeks.." her response was barely a whisper, "and there's no way I'll be able to re-submit all those forms and the citizenship test is only once a month, it's looking real bad for me right now…I don't really know what to do…"

"So...does this mean you'll be deported?" Stella asked putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I 'm not sure, either way I lose my job, if I'm still here when my visa runs out I'm an illegal immigrant which means I'll have a record and you're can't have record if you're CSI…"

The three of them sat in silence, not knowing what to say, what could you say?

"You could always marry an American, nice and simple!", Danny would always be the one to try and lighten the mood, with a success rate of ninety-nine percent.

Both Stella and Amy smiled.

"No seriously, marry a guy for as long as re-submitting the forms takes and after you get your citizenship you get an annulment, it's easy. It would only be for a month", Danny was talking as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm not going to marry a complete stranger Danny, nice try though"

"Out of curiosity, which form did you forget?", Stella asked to change the subject from ridiculous back to serious.

"I don't think I did forget any of them…"

"But you said…"

"I gave Mac the supervisors' confirmation form, he said he would send it after he finished it"

"Well, go ask him. You'll have to talk to him anyway since it looks like you might lose your job", Stella got up and put away her coffee cup, "He's in his office now. Who knows, maybe he has some super solution for this and can save your job", she smiled at Amy, "this will work out, you'll see".

"Thanks Stell".

Danny got up too, "Well I'd better write our report, and I think my idea is your best option", he patted her on the shoulder as he left.

csi:ny

"Mac, do a you a second?", she spoke as she poked her head around his office door.

"Sure, come in", he answered without looking up from his papers.

She sat down opposite him and waited for him to tare his eyes off the papers and look at her.

"You can talk, I'm listening", he said as he glanced at her before again staring at the work before him.

"Yes,..yes..", she felt a bit annoyed that he didn't give her his full attention but continued, "I was wondering if you sent that form I gave you, the supervisors confirmation form?".

Macs hand stopped abruptly shuffling papers and he finally looked up, but not at Amy, at the wall as if trying to remember something. The emotion on Macs face didn't give Amy much hope.

Mac then, with one elbow on the desk, put his forehead in hand and cursed quietly.

"I'm so sorry Amy, I completely forgot about it…but I'll get hold of a new form and post it today, don't worry", he then went back to shuffling his papers.

Amy knew that it meant to get up, thank him and leave the office, but she sat glued to that chair. Mac again looked up, "Anything else Amy?"

She took a deep breath, "Well, Mac, it's too late for that. I got a letter this morning from the department of immigration telling me that I had unsuccessfully sent in all my forms for my citizenship, meaning that I have to re-submit all the papers in the space of two weeks, which isn't gonna' happen !", Amy quite upset and with a slightly higher pitch to her voice continued, "So I'm going to lose my job and the wonderful life I have here, well that's unless I take Dannys' advice and marry the homeless guy who sleeps outside the coffee shop across the street!", she abruptly stopped talking not realizing she had even raised her voice at him, even though she was angry at Mac she still had utter most respect towards him.

Amy now had his complete attention, "Oh…I'm really sorry Amy, I really am", he said after a moment's silence.

Amy could read in his face that he felt regret, "and I don't have a better excuse than that I've been overwhelmed with paper work…is there anything that I can do?".

This would have been the moment he would come up with a plan to get Amy out of this situation, but since he was asking if there was anything he could do that surely meant there was no plan. Amy had half hoped Stella was right; that Mac would come to the rescue but today just wasn't her day.

"No, not unless you have a time machine..", smiling a weak smile she slowly got up, "thanks anyway..".

"Take tomorrow off Amy, perhaps with a little more free time you can find a solution". Amy nodded and closed the door behind her.

csi:ny

After getting her coat and bag from her locker she made her way home, on the stairs to the lab she bumped into Don Flack.

"Amy, Danny told me, I'm so sorry", Amy made a mental note to tell Danny **not** to tell everyone about her dilemma.

"Thanks Don" she straightened her scarf, it look like it was going to rain any second.

"Going home?", Amy nodded, not really in the mood to talk anymore, "I'll walk with you a bit", he started walking. There was no un-rude way to tell him she wanted to be alone besides, he didn't live far from her place anyway so she followed him.

They walked in silence, listening to the sky rumbling and the sounds of the city. The silence wasn't awkward, Amy had never had trouble talking to Flack, but he understood she would talk if she wanted to.

A few seconds later, it started to pour down. They ducked into a door way, both just staring at the rain.

"Being from the UK this probably doesn't bother you much eh?" he asked as they stood there.

"No, not much…and in a few weeks I'll be seeing this every day practically..".

There was a few seconds until any of them spoke again, "I don't want to leave Don," she said suddenly, "I like it here, I love my job and I've got great friends", she said smiling at Don.

"You know, I went to see Mac hoping he could fix this, childish really, thinking he could perform magic and whoop-di-da, problem solved!".

Don didn't know what to say to comfort her; just like Stella he always felt a need to help others.

"Come on, it doesn't look like this is gonna' clear up any time soon", they stepped out into the rain and continued walking, again, in silence.

Don knew where she lived and saw they weren't far from her building now; he wanted to say something comforting since he knew she would spend the rest of the day sitting in her apartment thinking about her depressing dilemma.

"You know, Danny told about his idea, you should really consider it", he saw Amy smile.

"I haven't got a boyfriend to marry Don and like I said to Danny, no way I'm going to grab a stranger and elope".

"If you did have a boyfriend, would you have done it then?"

"If I did, then I would consider it, so yes.". They had stopped in front of Amy's building.

"Well, you do have a lot of friends who are boys you know"

"What are you saying? That I should marry one of you guys?", Amy started rummaging in her bag for the keys, "Right, 'cause that makes sense", she laughed a little.

Don just stared at her as she looked for the keys.

"Marry me".

Amy looked up, "Say what?"

"Look it's logical and simple Amy, like you said, you would consider it if you had a boyfriend and I'm your friend and I happen to be a boy too", the tone in his voice was the same as if he was explaining how to change a light bulb. "And besides I want to help, none of us want you to leave".

"Don, that's really nice of you, but you don't have to. And besides don't you have a girlfriend…um, Sara right?"

"Sara was a girl I had one casual date with ages ago and you know it. Sheldon's got Tammy, and you can't ask Danny since we're all hoping he and Lindsay will get together, so that leaves me", he smiled that big smile. "Look, think about it, my offer still stands. I just think it's a shame you have to leave all this because Mac forgot one piece of paper", he gave her a hug and said good bye.

Amy stood frozen to the spot; one of her friends had asked her to marry him, what a weird situation. But, as her mind began to function again, she realized the logic he was talking about she had wanted a quick and easy solution and there it was. She began rummaging in her bag again pulling out her cell phone and dialling Dons number.

"Flack"

"Yes"

"See that wasn't so hard", she could hear him laughing.

"Ok, you better get back here, we have to plan how were going to do this…and Don?"

"Yeah?"

"…Thank you, I mean it, you're a life saver. I don't know how I'm ever going to re-pay you for this."

"No problem Ams, one thing at a time".


	2. Chapter 2

**The Best Option**

**CHAP 2**

A Flack/oc story, because I think there is a big shortage of them.

And all the talk about the forms and immigration in this story is made up, I have no idea how it's really done. Other than that enjoy and don't forget to comment if you like it or I won't post the ending.

(And this story happens before CoTP)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters or anything from CSI:NY, only Amy, Holly and Tammy.

_(Noticed now they all end with 'Y's, funny how that happened)_

csi:ny

As Amy walked to the lab the next morning she thought about the day before. Don had reassured her that he didn't mind doing this for her, after all it wasn't anything more than there names on a piece of paper, no big deal.

She walked into the lab happy, yesterday had been hard since she had been weighed down by the letter and she had been quite grumpy towards the poor lab techies.

"I'll get them some donuts or something to make up for it", she thought as she hung up her coat and headed to get the days assignments.

"You have the day off, that means don't come in", Mac said as she sat down with the others waiting for assignments.

"I know, but I fixed the problem so no need for a day off. What have we got?"

Exchanging looks with Stella, who just smiled, Mac continued giving out the orders.

"Danny, Amy and Stella; you've got a double homicide down on West 23rd, Flack will meet you there. Lindsay and Sheldon; you've got a suspected body dump in Central park, Maka is already there, lets go.

In the car Amy was in deep thought, when Mac had mentioned Flack would be working with them today she couldn't help but think 'my fiancée'. Because that's what he is, well for the moment. She smiled, this whole thing was bizarre, but in a good way. She was lucky that she had such a good friend who would help her, even if that meant marriage.

"So it's fixed then?", Stella asked as she drove through the New York traffic, not needing to ask what she was talking about Amy simple answered, "Yeah, nice and simple", and she smiled again as they parked and got out of the car and towards the scene.

They hadn't discussed when or what to tell their friends about their plan, Don had said it would be self evident soon anyway. So Amy just went with it.

"Hey, Flack, what have we got?", Danny bent down to a middle aged woman who seemed to have been stabbed multiple times in the chest.

"Good morning to you too Messer, anyway, Gina Hedling, 33 and the male inside is her husband David Hedling 34. Coroner's already been here saying they've been dead 12-6 hours. No witnesses of course."

"No weapon found?" Stella asked looking around the body.

"And no weapon found. And just so you know, this case has high priority; the husband was a friend of the police chief"

"I'll take the inside" Danny got up and walked inside, Stella brushed some dirt from her knees, "I'll take the outside, Amy could you search around the area, no one is stupid enough to keep the murder weapon so they could have dumped it close by"

"Sure, but if they're stupid enough to murder two people then they're probably stupid enough to keep the weapon too" picking up her kit and heading towards the car to get a flashlight Don followed her.

"You coming with me?" she asked as she checked the batteries of the flash light.

"Sure, one thing before we start", and he pulled out a diamond ring out of his pocket, "don't worry, it's not real", he reassured her as he saw her face fall, "cost a dollar on a street market, but I thought we needed some props".

"God, that's so sweet, I…_what_ _are you doing_!" He had gotten down on one knee. "We have to do this properly you know" he said with a huge grin on his face, he was loving this.

They were standing by the car, people had actually stopped to look, some of the officers on the scene were whistling and then, with a made-up voice, he asked;

"Amy, this past year has been amazing and I don't want it to ever end, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife…._for a month_?", the last part he had whispered so only they could hear. Amy played along and with an equally made-up voice answered; "Oh my god, Don!", waving her hand in front of her face as if to stop the tears, "I can't believe it, I…of course I'll marry you!" she flung her arms around him as he stood up, people on the street and around them cheered as Amy whispered in Dons ear, "…_for a month_". He slipped the ring on her finger.

"What was _that_?", Stella was walking up to them, Amy was still holding her arms around Don and realizing that they quickly let go of each other.

"When did all this start?", she just stared at them as Danny joined the conversation.

"I know what this is, you took my advice, good for you guys. But Ams, you could do so much better than him".

While Don gave Danny a sharp left on the arm Stella looked to Amy with an understanding look, "You took _Dannys'_ advice?", before Amy could say anything Stella waved her hand, "I don't want to know, I'm happy you're not going to be deported, even though this isn't the best way you know that right?" Amy nodded.

"Good, well congrats and I hope we're invited to the wedding. Let's get back to work people".

csi:ny

The bodies had been taken away, all evidence found put into bags and every neighbour interviewed. Left was to head back to the lab and figure out what happened.

Stella stood in the lab, arms crossed and her foot tapping the floor. The only thing standing in between her and a break in the case was the machines ability to process faster; they had waited for half an hour already for the machine to spit out the answer.

But it was only Stella who was inpatient; Amy sat by the table beside her stressed colleague, but not at all showing the same emotions as Stella. She sat fiddling with her ring, for a fake ring it looked quite good.

"When's the big day?", Amy snapped out of her thoughts, "What?"

"When do you swap 'I do's?"

"Depends if we can get time at city hall tomorrow, the sooner the better", since this was all still new to her, it felt so odd hearing her self say things like that.

Stella must have seen it on her face, "Feels strange, unreal maybe? Well it should because it isn't real. Amy I'm all for you being able to stay in the country but marrying Flack, that's not fair to him is it?"

She couldn't believe it, Stella; the one she thought would be most supportive is questioning her actions?

"He asked me, I said he didn't have to, but he wanted to help. Besides it's not like we're committing to each other for ever, only for a month. You have to understand that Stell".

"I do but, and I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, it's just have you thought of what this will do to your friendship to Flack?"

"We would become even better friends I'd think and that's a good…"

The machine finally beeped and produced a paper with figures relating to the case.

Stella took the paper and with one look their theory was confirmed; the husband killed the wife before probably killing himself.

"Let's not talk about this now, the weapon is still at the scene, come on"

csi:ny

Thursday evening at city hall, everyone was there, Mac, Stella, Hawkes and his girlfriend Tammy, Danny, Lindsay and Dons sister Holly. Not really _everyone, _but everyone that mattered. They kept it as short and simple as possible, Don was in a suit (big shocker) and Amy wore a fitted jacket and a short skirt.

A strange feeling came over Amy as she stood next to Don while the city official spoke. What would this do to their friendship? What if Don met someone and that someone were scared away by the fact he was married? What if the immigration office found out the marriage was a hoax? Then they'd both lose their jobs.

Her pulse gathered speed and she just wanted to shout out for someone to stop this, she regretted having put Don in this situation. She turned to him to some how say with her eyes to stop, but when she met his gaze it all blew away, her pulse calmed down and she smiled back at him. It was going to ok, all the reassurance she needed was there beside her. They said their I Do's and a very quick kiss and the guests left the room. Don and Amy went to sign the marriage license together with their witnesses. Holly was Dons witness and Amy had asked Danny.

As Holly was signing Amy gave Danny a hug, "Thanks for doing this"

"No problem, I feel honoured, besides your like the sister I never had so this is just logical, plus this was my idea", he smiled as he took the pen from Holly and signed. They walked out the doors and confetti flew everywhere and photos were taken, just like the real thing.

Afterwards it was dinner at a restaurant, the wine and conversations flowed freely, jokes about when and where they were going on a honeymoon and how many children they would have. The people sitting around the table were the only people who knew the true reason behind the marriage.

"Silence please, shhh...thank you. I have a gift for the newlyweds", Holly lifted a wrapped box from under the table and handed it over, "it's more of a joke than a necessity" she added as they ripped off the paper. When the contents were revealed everyone laughed, a plain white toaster.

"Now you have something to fight about when you get divorced; who gets to keep the toaster".

After about another hour it was three in the morning and time to head home, everyone a bit more wobbly than before. Waiting outside for cabs Stella walked up to Amy and gave her a big hug, "Don't hurt him ok? That's a good girl", she slurred as she patted Amy on the cheek.

"Come on Stella", Mac steered here into a cab and waved good night.

Don and Amy shared a cab and as they drove home they reminisced about the evening.

"We got _married_ today, amazing!" Don uttered, barely being able to keep his eyes open.

"Yes, that we did, but remember; after tonight everything goes back to normal, we only need to be married on paper not for real", Don didn't answer, he had fallen asleep on her shoulder, "I'm tired too you know.." she mumbled as she closed her eyes.

"Lady, hey lady! We're here", Amy snapped her head up, the cab driver was glaring at her from the front seat.

"Sure, ok, I'm up".

"Lady, what about your husband?"

Amy poked Don and giggled as his eyes flung open, he was ticklish, good to know she thought.

"I'm coming", he slurred as the both slid out of the taxi.

Holding on to each other they climbed the stairs and at the door they were on hands and knees laughing their heads off looking for the keys in Amy's bag. After a short key hunt, and a few curse words from the neighbours, they stumbled inside and fell asleep almost immediately.

csi:ny

((Dons point of view))

The steady rays of sunlight landing directly in his face and had woken him up, but then he felt the thumping in his head and wished he could have continued sleeping.

The room was nice and cool and the bed comfortable warm. But it wasn't his bed, he was now wide awake.

His arm was flung over a white clad figure who was facing away from him, he smiled as he realized it was Amy and he was glad they both still had there cloths on. He leaned forward to see her face, she was still asleep. He lay back down, enjoying laying there next to her. It was this kind of thing Stella had told to avoid.

_Flash back…(the day he gave Amy the ring)_

"_Your going to have to tell her before you get that marriage license", she had said as the two of them walked into the elevator. _

"_Tell her what Stell?" he answered nonchalantly pressing the '35' button.._

"_She said yes because it's her only option to stay, you asked because you wanted to help her stay, but I think you did it for another reason Don"._

"_I don't know what you're on about", he was avoiding her gaze._

"_Stop the charade, you fancy the pants off of her and you know it and you asked her based on that but you're gonna' get hurt since she's in it for the marriage license only", she sighed as the elevator came to the 35th floor and they got off, "Don I just want you to watch out, you're acting like if you do this for her she'll magically fall for you. I don't want to see you get hurt that's all"._

"_I'm doing this as a friend to help her; it's going to be a **very** short and unconventional marriage, that's it"_

"_Sure, be in denial then, but promise me this, don't put her or your self in a situation where your feelings are forced to the surface, do that and you can kiss your friendship good bye…ok?"_

…..

He carefully lifted his arm off of her and tiptoed into the kitchen, passing a mirror in the hall he caught his reflection, he had looked better. In the kitchen he grabbed a glass of milk and sat down, he wondered if he should wake her up to say he was leaving. He decided not to, if she had the same hangover he had she would be thankful for another hour or two of sleep. He wrote a note and put it n the fridge.

Tiptoeing back into the bedroom he stood for awhile just looking at her. He walked quietly up to her and kissed her on the forehead; she mumbled in her sleep and smiled.

He headed for the door; no need for a cab, a nice walk would do him good...


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAP 3**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters or anything from CSI:NY.

CSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NY

She didn't want to get up, but the irritating sound just kept getting louder and louder, and it was making her head want to explode. Realizing it was her cell phone she swung her legs off the bed and dragged herself into the living room to look for the device she so badly wished didn't exists right now. Laughing at the sight of the contents of her bag being spread across her hallway she picked up her phone and remembered last night and smiled. She and Don had been quite wasted. With a frown she looked around her apartment, where was Don?

Settling herself in the kitchen with a glass of milk she saw the note and smiled as she read it.

_Dear Wife_

_Didn't wake you since you looked so peaceful, but I had to go home to change before work. Yesterday was great and I think it was the right thing to do._

_See you at work._

_Your Husband_

It was the right thing to do; it was a nice and simple solution to her problem, just like Danny said.

"Who knew Danny's wacky idea turned out to be just what I needed...", she said out loud to no one.

She glanced at the clock on her wall and it told her it was half past eight.

"Shit!"

Her work day starts at eight. She looked down at her phone which she hadn't actually looked at yet and saw that she had two new voice messages. While she dashed into the bed room and started ripping out random cloths from her closet she listened to the voice messages, the first one was from Danny.

"_Message received at 08:23:_

_Hey Ams, you're late…saw you shared a cab with Flack last night, where did you end up; his place or yours, ehh, ehh? Anyway, Mac hasn't noticed you're not here yet, but just hurry. See ya'_

_: End of message"_

Having slipped into a pair of jeans and a cosy jumper she ran into the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth.

"_Second message received 08:33:_

_Amy, it's Stella, where are you? You're with me today and the scene isn't far from your place, call when you're on your way. Oh and last night was nice. Now hurry!"_

_: End of message."_

Dashing out the door she hoped she hadn't forgotten anything.

CSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NY

Stella and Amy returned to the lab with a truck load of evidence a few hours later. What had appeared to be a suicide had now become a homicide.

"Well I'll start with finger printing the gun, you got the briefcase?"

"Sure, page me if you find something", Stella grabbed the briefcase and headed off to start working.

Amy had finished dusting for prints, none of course, it had been wiped clean. Checking for possible fibres in every nook and cranny whilst she listened to music, she wore headphones to not disturb those around her, so she didn't notice Macs presence until he waved a hand in front of her causing her to jump.

"Mac, sorry didn't see you"

"That's ok, I just wanted to tell you I spoke with a Mr.Jamerson from immigration…"

Amy froze, had they found out that the marriage was a fake? No, then they would have called her directly. She didn't understand, why had they called Mac?

"Considering you got married when you did they have to question if it was real or a hoax. They've probably called other authority figures close to you as well."

Still she remained silent, as a detective Mac would have to answer truthfully to any question asked him by any government official that she knew, so this little talk they were having was to tell her that it was a nice try but now she had to leave. The tears were forming and she felt that tell tale feeling in her throat. She didn't dare speak; she didn't want to cry her heart out in front of Mac.

Mac, sensing Amy wasn't going to say anything continued; "And I told him the truth.."

Crap.

"..that you and Det.Flack had been happily dating long before he proposed", Mac smiled, "had you worried there didn't I".

Before he knew it Amy had flung her self off the chair and engulfed him in a big hug, tears falling freely down her cheeks.

"Thank you _so_ much Mac..", she released him and laughed as she dried her tears, "sorry".

"No worries, I owe it to you, forgetting the form and causing all this. But I have to warn you, when I spoke to Mr.Jamerson he asked how long you two had been living together and I answered that Flack was just waiting for his lease to run out until he would move in. I had to make it sound convincing" he added as he saw her expression.

She wanted to shout _'Why did you say that for!'. _But it didn't seem appropriate considering he had taken a big risk lying for her.

He continued, "They are going to check if you two actually do live together, if you're lucky Flacks lease is good for another month, then no harm done. Oh, and you were late this morning", and with that he left the room leaving Amy to process this new information.

CSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NYCSI:NY

After Stella and Amy had finished processing their evidence they had a suspect, a Mrs.Denton, the ex-wife of their victim. She was called into interrogation by Flack. Stella accompanied Flack inside the interrogation room, Amy watched through the mirror.

"Mrs.Denton, do you want to even explain why your finger prints were found on the gun that killed your ex-husband?"

"I had handled the gun a few times, when cleaning out the closet I moved it and then put it back, nothing strange with that", she answered with no emotion on her face.

"How long have you been divorced? It says eleven months here,", Stella spoke holding a folder, "and you still clean his house?".

"Of course not, that pig can clean his own house, what a stupid question"

"Thought so, did you know we can tell how old different prints are? Well we can and the ones we found on the gun, yours, are no more than a two days old", Stella smiled a victorious smile; she had backed the women into a corner.

Mrs.Dentons breathing became more audible and after a few minutes of silence she asked for a lawyer.

"The evidence combined with the motive and her weak alibi should lead to an arrest, well done", Flack congratulated as they left the interrogation room and where joined by Amy.

"I'll go write the report, you look beat Amy, go home and rest. You know we'll call if you're needed." Stella said as she headed to her office.

"Thanks Stell", Amy called after her getting a wave back. She was glad she could head home and rest a bit; her head was still feeling that lovely hangover from this morning. 'Home', the reminded her of the conversation with Mac, after finding the match in afis she had completely forgotten.

"Don, do you have a minute?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

How was she supposed to start this conversation? She looked into his blue eyes that had comforted her yesterday in the courthouse, why did everything just feel so easier when she gazed into his eyes?

"When does your lease run out?" she practically blurted out.

A bit taken aback by her question, he had thought that she perhaps was going to ask something about this morning, "umm, …next week I think. Why?"

Next week! She buried her face in her hands and groaned, how was she going to tell him that they had move in together? Not only had he been a great friend and married her, which alone was a mind blowing gesture, now he had to leave the comforts of his own home as well! Sadly she knew him so well that if she asked him he would do it with out a doubt, the nice guy that he was and all. But he had already done so much for her, asking this of him would make her feel guilty.

She sighed, she had to at least ask.

After explaining in short what Mac told her, she sighed again and buried her face yet again in her hands and mumbled, "…sorry"

When he started laughing she looked up, "what's so funny?"

"I've already talked to Mac…hey! What was that for?", Amy had given a soft slap on the arm.

"You could have said something sooner, I was feeling total remorse about having to tell you", she laughed, she was actually glad he wasn't upset. But the seriousness caught hold of their conversation again.

"What do you think we should do?", she asked uneasy. It was his call to make.

The blue eyes looked into her own for a while as if searching for something before he answered her, "I'm ok with it if you are, I mean it's your apartment I'll be invading".

A tear fell from her eye, what wouldn't this guy do for her?

"Hey hey, don't cry. I promise not to leave all my dirty cloths on the floor", he smiled, and gave her a hug.

Laughing as she hugged back, "I'm not worried about that, you can dump it on my bed for all I care, it's just that when Mac spoke to me earlier I thought he was going to tell me it was over and I was going to have to leave."

"You're not going anywhere that I'll make sure of. As your husband I'm supposed to protect you and that's what I will do". He wiped the tears off of her cheek with his thumb, "well come on roomie, better get packing then", he held his arm around her shoulder as they walked down the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAP 4**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters or anything from CSI:NY,

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It was late, perhaps around 01:00am, and Don and Amy were sitting in Amy's couch, take away boxes littering the coffee table and empty moving boxes by the door. Just as with the marriage, the sooner Don moved in the better, so after both their shifts ended they started moving Dons things into Amys' guest room. Holly had taken over Dons lease until he would move back in a month.

"We're both gonna' save money this way, gas, the rent and food, food especially if it's take out every night.", Don put down the box containing spring rolls.

"Yeah…I'm stuffed", she through down her chop sticks, "and tired, how about we deal with the last boxes tomorrow?"

"Good idea".

Danny and Hawkes had helped move boxes, as Dons place was so close by so it didn't take too long. They had laughed as they unpacked up his stuff into her apartment, joking about the toaster that now stood in the kitchen still unused. But now, they were alone and reality sank in, here they were; married and living together.

"As a married couple we should know things about each other…", Don suddenly said, "like, middle names and pet peeves."

Amy had closed her eyes and leaned back in the couch, "Sure…you go first then", she said with out opening her eyes.

"Ok, my middle name is William, I guess my pet peeve is people who lie about every little thing. Your turn", he had mimicked Amys position as he took another swig of bear from his half empty bottle.

"Middle name is Noelle, no jokes thank you and my pet peeve would be stupid criminals... What else do you want to know?"

He took another swig of beer before he said anything, "most recent relationship?"

"Well before you my dear husband" she saw him smile from the corner of her eye, "it was a guy named Andrew, it didn't last though, and you?"

"Kimberly, you met her, she came to the lab one day not long after you started working there. But as you know she went back to her ex-boyfriend. Why didn't you and Andrew last?"

"I dumped him after he tried framing me for a crime he committed, one of the reasons I came to New York, it was kind of a scandal and it almost cost me my job" she had said it so matter of factly it took a moment for him to react. He sat up and looked at her, "I didn't know".

"Well that's a good thing then, since the whole point of this sharing game it to find out these little things about each other".

"So I presume he's in jail then?", he was still looking at her, she hadn't noticed.

"Yeah…", she felt her body relaxing and sleep starting to take over, "…rotting away. You sleepy?"

"A bit, you?", he didn't get an answer, he smiled as realized she had fallen asleep right there next to him.

Quietly he put the empty food boxes in the trash and turned to Amy, should he wake her or try and move her into her bed? He figured he could try and move her first. Pulling her arms up and around his shoulders he moved away from the couch hoping she would walk with him. As she started sliding down he grabbed her round her waist and pulled her up. Her head rested against his chest, and he admitted to himself that he could get just to this. Using his left leg he hoisted her up so that he was carrying her completely and headed towards her bedroom, in her sleep she slung her arms around his neck and snuggled closer.

Slowly he laid her down on the bed, carefully pulling out his arms from underneath her. She mumbled something he couldn't hear; as he pulled the covers over her she spoke again, "Andrew's a basterd".

He smiled at her remark, "Yeah, I agree". He stroked the hair from her face and looked at her sleeping face. God this was going to be hard, a whole month with her one room away. He closed her door behind him and went to bed, tomorrow was another work day.

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Over the next week Amy and Don lived together without any major problems, only argument they had was Don being the first one to use the shower in the mornings and leaving no warm water. Other than that everything went smoothly.

But Don couldn't get Stella to lay off his case about Amy, not long after she heard they were moving in together she had cornered him, "What next Don? A baby maybe?"

"Stell, are you saying I'm not capable of keeping it in my pants?", he laughed at the suggestion.

"No, of course not, I'm just wondering how far this is going to go. I see how you look at her and I've noticed she looks back with the same smile. I have a feeling this is going to end badly".

"Oh really? Well I'm not surprised, we've become really close friends, it's the same kind of relationship you get with your room mate in college you know. Don't worry Stell, I won't do anything I'll regret".

Stella eyed him, sighed and feeling the conversation was over for now she said good bye.

He smiled to himself, even though he had promised Stella not to hope Amy would fall madly for him he couldn't help but play with the thought that something could evolve from their present situation. 'She looked at him the same way he looked at her?' That's what Stella had said.

For the rest of the day he had a smile plastered across his face.

At the scene of an arson case Hawkes and Amy were sorting through a number of burnt objects and bagging them. A uniformed officer entered the room they were working in,

"Det. Flack?..Excuse me, Det.Flack?"

Hawkes nudged Amy, "that's you".

"Huh?...oh yeah, sorry. Yes officer?"

"There's a man outside who would want a word".

She thanked the officer as he left, "Still strange to be called 'Flack'?", Hawkes asked as he bagged a badly burned lamp.

"Yeah, but I kind of like it, 'Amy Flack'. Has a nice ring to it", she got up and pulled off her gloves, "I'll just go see what this man wants and I'll be right back, you ok for a while?"

"Sure, this stuff isn't going anywhere".

Outside she took a deep breath of fresh air; it was quite stuffy inside the burnt building.

She then noticed a man, late twenties, standing inside the taped off area fiddling with a piece of paper.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stand behind the tape", she said as she approached him.

He reached to pull something out of his back pocket, Amy rested her hand on her gun but he merely pulled out his wallet and showed her a NYPD police badge.

"I'm sorry"

"You're CSI right, working this case?", he asked as he pocketed his wallet.

"Yes, one of them"

"My names Joe Martinez, I live in this building, well _lived_, but I was wondering…on the third floor, first apartment, did you find…anything…any…", he voice was unsteady and he was fiddling even more with the paper in his hand. Amy looked down and saw it actually was a photo of a women, she put two and two together.

"Your wife?"

He smiled, "no, my girlfriend...she was at my place waiting for me…I've checked the hospitals who treated the injured people from the fire, they said no one fitting Angela's description ever came in. Did you find any sign that maybe…perhaps she was...", he was fighting back tears and Amy's heart went out to him.

"I can make a call to see if any of the fatalities match her description if you like?"

He nodded his response.

She stepped away to make the call to the morgue.

"City morgue, Hammerback speaking"

"Hey Sid, it's Amy. Did you get any of the fatalities from our arson case?"

"Yes, both of them. I had expected more considering it was a five story building. You're wondering because?"

"Any of them women?"

"No, two males."

"Thanks Sid, I'll see you later then"

She hung up. Telling Joe his face was a mix of emotion.

"That's good and bad news I guess", he said staring at her photo.

"I think you should file a missing persons report and maybe contact her family and friends, see if she has contacted them." He thanked her and walked away. Amy stood still, was this connected to the fire? There were no human remains inside so if Angela had been in the building she would have been taken to the hospital or could she just have wandered off?

"What did that guy want?", Hawkes came out of the building carrying their evidence.

Amy filled him in on the new information.

"It could be connected or she just wasn't in the building. It could also mean she is a suspect", holding up an evidence bag containing a mutilated soda can, "I found this inside." He said.

"What about it?", she took the bag with the can and took a closer look.

"I found several of them on the second floor in the hall way, found residue of sugar on a few of them and I wouldn't be shocked if trace found amounts of potassium chlorate too."

"Basically classic smoke bombs. But why then start a real fire?", she looked at the different cans Hawkes had bagged, one stood out in a way that it was almost burnt to a crisp.

"This one, this one started to burn, whoever did this didn't use enough sodium bicarbonate to stop it from actually catching fire".

"We'll test it at the lab to confirm. If you're right it could mean the fire was accidental".

"If so what's the reason for the smoke bombs?", she got into the car, "well finding out that is why we get paid" Hawkes smilled as he got into the drivers seat.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAP 5**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except Amy.**

I had planned on this to be about 6 chapters long, but it looks like it's going to land on about 9 or 10. Anyway, do review I'd like to know people are actually reading the story. Enjoy.

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As Hawkes and Amy were about to begin processing their evidence Mac stopped them, "There's been another fire, it's best if you two take it; since you processed the first fire you'll be able to see if there is a connection between the two."

The scene had taken six hours to process. They got it all back to the lab and started comparing it with their finds from the first fire. The same ingredients used in the smoke bombs were used again but instead of soda cans they found traces of some kind of a plastic box. They both felt they were looking at the same arsonist.

"He could have started out wanting it to **_look_** like a fire the first time and when it did actually turn into a real one he just went with it and just set the second building on fire" Hawkes said as they stood by an evidence table filled with bags and burnt objects.

"You're probably right, but that doesn't answer the age old question, why? Why these buildings? …What else do the fires have in common?" she started rummaging in the large heap of things on the table. Their order from Mac was to find a pattern in order to try and stop whoever was doing this from doing it a third time.

"Talked to Sid, our two first victims died of smoke inhalation and luckily there were no fatalities in this fire, half the building was empty for repairs", he said as he compared photos, "this means he isn't doing it to hurt as many people as possible…maybe he has a grudge against certain people who lived in these buildings?"

"I'm saying no right now, no way I'm questioning all those tenants about grudges", Flack said as he walked in.

"You might just have to" Hawkes answered with a grin.

Ignoring him Flack turned to Amy, "I followed up on that missing person, Angela Wicker, like you asked and she is still missing. Her boyfriends' story that she was in his apartment is backed up by his neighbour who says he heard her singing about half an hour before the fire."

"Ok, so say she was there, where is she or her remains now?", she fell silent as she thought as to how this all fitted together with the fire.

"…it's just bad luck, I mean Gary just moved into that apartment a month ago with his wife, paid a fortune for it.", Flack was making conversation with Hawkes as Amy had slipped into her own thoughts, she did that a lot. Though she slipped right back out when she realised what Flack was saying.

"Who's Gary?", she asked.

"Gary Stolls, he's a fellow detective down at the precinct, this second fire was at his building. You've met him; large guy, shaggy brown hair..."

"Could this be the other piece that strings the two fires together: The NYPD? Joe Martinez is a police officer and so is Gary", she felt triumphant, but as the notion sank in she realised what she was saying.

"Wait, this loves-playing-with-matches wacko is targeting police?", Flacks anger was quite visible, attack one of the NYPD and you've attacked them all.

"Hang on, no police have been harmed, unless you count the fact that there homes burnt down", Hawkes reasoned.

Amy fell into her thoughts again, then another one hit her, "Don, Garys wife, where is she?"

"How should I know? I'm having hard enough time keeping track of you", he answered making Hawkes laugh.

"Call Gary now!" as Flack dialled on his phone Hawkes just looked at Amy with a questioning look.

"You think he's targeting the loved ones of the police?"

"Well it looks that way, he seems to have planned these fires well and if his intention was to kill a police officer then he would have checked if the actual police was at home first right?"

Flack shut his phone, "Gary's at the hospital, he's waiting for the ambulances to come in. His wife was at home when the fire began." He had grim expression on his face.

"So she is in an ambulance on her way to the hospital then?", Hawkes asked.

"He doesn't know…"

The silence was broken by Hawkes, "We'd better tell Mac".

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The whole team was brought in on the case, it had gone from simple arson to serial arson and possible multiple kidnapping. It had gone twenty-four hours since the second fire, everyone was pins and needles; was there going to be a third?

Flack had been questioning a known arsonist who recently had gotten out of jail; they figured he would defiantly have a grudge against the police. But it turned out he had a secure alibi so they had no choice but to release him.

As he wandered into the lab to tell the others he saw Hawkes and Amy walking towards him.

"Hey, where are you guys off to?"

"Mac said we'd been working for thirty-eight hours straight and that we're no help to anyone if we fall asleep standing", Hawkes said, his voice telling them that he found it outrages.

Flack turned to Amy who was yawning, "…I think it'll be better when we come in tomorrow with fresh eyes", another yawn, "…and bad news; Garys wife is missing, which confirms our theory. I'm sorry Don, you and Gary seemed close."

Flacks heart sank, "yeah, we did a few cases before I became a detective...I should give him a call." He felt a hand on his shoulder looking up he saw Amy looking back, "we'll get him ok? He's not getting away with this"

He smiled, he knew they'd get him but it felt good to hear it.

"I know…"

"Need a ride Amy?" Hawkes asked, "That would be great Sheldon, thanks". They said their good byes and Hawkes and Amy headed to the elevator, Flack turned when Amy called his name.

"The _better-if-you-get-some-sleep_ rule applies to you too, remember that!" she smiled as the doors to the elevator closed.

He laughed and continued walking into the lab, he remembers someone saying that it would be a total pain to be married, having someone nagging about every little thing you do, but to him it was comforting to have someone who looked out for him.

For every day that passed together with Amy the fake marriage felt more and more like a real one.

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Dumping her bag on the hall way floor she made her to the couch and flung herself on it. She hadn't felt tired until Mac had ordered her to go home, but Hawkes had to shake her awake when they arrived at her door.

Not wanting to fall asleep on the couch she got up and headed to the bath room, a quick shower and then straight to bed. The sooner she fell asleep the sooner she could be back in the lab and find evidence that would lead them to a suspect.

Drying off she wondered if Don was going to come home and rest too, Mac didn't have the power to force him like he could the rest of the team, but perhaps if Mac said something Don would listen. She looked around for her regular sleeping attire, on a chair in her bedroom she found it; one of Dons white shirts. Putting it on she remembered why Don had given it to her. They had been lounging and enjoying a day off watching TV when a clip of Tom Cruise dancing around in his underwear, socks and a white shirt appeared on screen.

"_Ever done that?" he had asked her._

"_What, jumping on the furniture?"_

"_No, well that too. Have you ever turned up the volume and just let yourself go?"_

"_All the time, until you moved in of course. If I had continued prancing around wearing barely nothing singing into a hairbrush you would have thought I was crazy or something", she answered amused._

"_Crazy is such a harsh word, entertaining, yes I would have found you entertaining", he grinned at her. He got up and left the room and he came back holding one of his white shirts._

"_Here, for you. When ever you feel the need to let loose pull this on and crank up the volume."_

_She took the shirt and smiled at him, "is that what you do when I'm not around?", "wouldn't you like to know", sticking out his tongue in childish manor, they both laughed uncontrollable in the couch._

She smiled at the memory, she had indeed taken his advice and he had come home one night to find her jumping on the couch singing along to Basement Jaxx's '_Where's your head at'_. She hadn't noticed and he had watched her for minute or two and even filmed her on his cell phone. He had threatened to show the rest of the lab, but Amy wasn't worried, she knew he wasn't that mean.

As she curled up in her bed she thought for a moment how good it felt to have Don around, she felt so much safer. But was that it? Was that the only reason she liked having him so close by? In fact lately she had been feeling _really_ good whenever he stood especially close to her, whenever he stood close enough she would stare into those eyes…

She lost herself in that thought for a moment and snapped out of it. She only felt this way because she was thankful, of course that's what it was, she was thankful. She slumped down on her pillow, "Who am I kidding…" she said out loud to herself. Pulling the covers tightly around her she figured she shouldn't think about that now, she had to sleep.

She did eventually fell asleep, but not after going through all the reasons why she shouldn't fall for Don in her mind.

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Nursing a cup of coffee Don shut his eyes for a moment, he was intending on going home but they were waiting for AFIS to come up with a match 'after that' he told himself.

What felt like seconds later someone was shaking him; he opened his eyes and found Danny looking down at him.

"Sorry, drifted off. AFIS come up with something?"

"No, no…Flack, man, I'm sorry…", Danny wasn't smiling, he had a very sorrowful look on his face.

"For what?…Messer, sorry for what?" he got up from his sitting position.

"There's been a third fire…Don its Amy's building. They're waiting for us; we're heading over there now".

The ride over was a blur, not much was said, but the second he opened the car door a wave of different sounds hit him. He stood frozen to the spot just staring at the blazing structure in front of him. Sirens, people screaming, the roaring fire and all the other noises just spun around in his head.

The voice of Mac filtered through, "…Don, what would she be wearing?", he just stared at Mac for a moment dazed by the whole situation.

"My shirt…white"

"Good," Mac turned to Stella and Danny, "go check with the EMTs if they have treated anyone matching her description", with a nod they rushed off.

Mac turned back to Don, when the call about the third fire came Stella told Mac about her suspicions about Don and Amy's friendship. Mac couldn't tell from Dons emotionless face on what level he was worried, but he knew it was tearing him apart seeing this.

"Don, you should head over to the hospital and question the relatives of those injured." Mac got one of the officers at the scene to drive Don to Trinity hospital; he was in no shape to drive by him self. Maybe putting him to work would be considered a bad idea, but Mac knew that the workaholic in him would go in to auto pilot and what ever horrible feelings he felt would be pushed aside for now.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAP 6**

**Another chapter then, don't forget to review. **

**And I would love to know if it's _too_ predictable. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY.**

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The arsonists MO was that he started a fire as a diversion to be able to abduct targeted women, women involved with certain police officers. It was clever, with all the commotion it would take a while to realise anyone was missing and the unsuspecting women would only be grateful to be taken away from the flames.

Don was sitting by his desk at the precinct, slightly leaning forward with his forehead in his hands, "_certain police officers_", that's what they had said. They being Mac and the rest, they had finally figured out his MO and his motive, his name even; Terry Wellston.

It had been an hour ago since Mac had briefed them on it all, Wellston's motive was that he hadn't accepted the fate of his wife who had been abducted and murdered four years ago. He had, at the time, tried to sue the precinct claiming the officers who handled the case were the reason her abductor was never caught and brought to justice, thus also responsible for her death.

The officers on that case had been Joe Martinez, Gary Stolls and Don himself.

Mac had taken Don aside and told him to go home, they were going try and find Wellston and would call him if they heard anything. But that had been over an hour ago; Don didn't want to go home to an empty apartment that only would remind him of her and how much it was his fault she had become a victim. He kept re-playing certain things that had been said during the briefing.

"…_what with his motive being revenge he waited four years until all three officers had settled down with an significant other…"_

Rubbing his eyes he thought how the day they'd gotten married must have been the day Terry Wellston had set his plan into motion.

"…_we have to assume that the three women are still alive and we won't rest until we find them…"_

_Assume_? Meaning there is a chance they are dead already? He shook the thought out of his mind; he didn't want to see that as a possibility, he didn't want to think of Amy as another corpse for Sid to put a scalpel to.

"You don't look so good?"

He jumped at the sound of Stella's voice, he had been so deep in thought he hadn't noticed her sit down opposite him.

"Don't feel so good either…", which was an understatement, but he couldn't even begin to describe how bad he felt. "Any news?"

"No, this Wellston guy seems to have gone up in smoke, but we're running his credit cards to see if that might lead to something...everyone feels bad about this, Hawkes feels terrible. He feels he could have prevented him from getting Amy if he had checked for a connection between you and the two other police men sooner."

Don nodded in response.

"Now is a good time to stop being denial about your feelings for..."

"Stella, I really don't feel like having this conversation again…I know ok…"

Stella sat quiet for a moment, "have her relatives been notified?"

"I found her brothers number, but it's three in the morning over there so…"

Stella got up to leave, "ok, we're all at the lab if you need us, don't sit here all night".

He got up and headed for the lab, to sit on the side lines and wait for something to happen wouldn't help.

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It was freezing, she could see her own breath, the concrete floor was damp and hard and the windows sat high upon the walls in the empty space they were in, too high to see out of and impossible to escape through. She held her knees under her chin to keep warm; the shirt she was wearing wasn't the best outfit for the conditions she found herself in.

"I think she stopped breathing…"

Amy looked up at the women opposite her, clad in a thin night dress, who was staring at the still form of a third woman wearing yellow pyjamas. When Amy had been thrown into what seemed to be some kind of empty warehouse there were already two people there. She didn't have to ask who they were, Angela Wicker and Susan Stolls.

"Angela?...Can you hear me?"

Stiff from sitting in the same position and from the cold Amy got up slowly and walked over, kneeling next to the woman she reached out for her wrist to feel for a pulse. Amy's fingers were numb from the cold and were no longer pink, but there was no mistaking it, there was no pulse. She turned to Susan who read Amy's expression and cried hysterically.

"Oh my god…and we're next, we're not getting out of her alive!", sobs racking her tiny frame and fear prominent in her eyes.

Amy didn't have the strength to comfort her; truthfully she also was beginning to give up hope of getting out of there. Not having a watch she didn't know how long she'd been there but it felt like forever.

"People are looking for us, they are bound to have found some evidence that'll lead them here", the words rolled out of her mouth automatically.

When she had got there Angela was already struggling to breath and was very dehydrated, but she managed to tell her how the man had helped her climbed down a fire escape away from the fire and towards the ambulances only to be lead to a car, he had told her he was a cop and he would drive her to the hospital since the ambulances were needed for those critically injured. She didn't see anything wrong with that until he pulled up to the empty warehouse. It was the same story for Susan.

Pulling her knees under her chin once again and wrapping her arms around her legs she tried not to look at the now dead woman beside them. Amy had realised as the man had started walking towards the car who he really was and what would happen if she got into the car, but her attempts to scream and fight back were met by fists and a pocket knife. The wounds weren't deep but enough for blood to flow and trickle down her arms.

Feeling tired and drained from all her energy she knew that if she closed her eyes there was a possibility she wouldn't open them again, she kept a steady train of thought in her mind to occupy herself. _Why had she become the next victim? How would this end? Is the team seconds from finding them or days? Would she ever…_

"You're married?", Susan had stopped crying and feeling lonely was trying to make conversation.

Amy didn't answer immediately; she looked at her hand, the cheap engagement ring beside her wedding ring made her smile.

"Yeah, a week ago", her smile faded and she felt tears welling up. She wasn't ever going to see him again. This is so bad timing, she had finally began to admit to herself that she did indeed feel something more than gratitude towards him. She fought back the tears, she had to be strong.

"A week? Gary and I have been married for about a year now, it's a romantic story how we met. I was working as a receptionist at this hotel in Yonkers when…"

Susan began telling her lovely story but Amy zoned out, her eyes went back to the rings on her hand and she thought about what **_her_** life would look like in a year if she survived this. She swallowed hard so as not to start crying, she didn't like the thought of Don not living with her anymore, not being able to wear these rings or to tell people with pride she was married to the bravest detective around.

Of course if she got out of here or not that would still happen, their 'arrangement' was only meant to be for a month. She had known this the whole time of course but thinking about it now and adding that to the current situation was the last drop and the tears came flooding down her cheeks silently.

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They had him; he was picked up driving towards New Jersey in a car in which they found a piece of clothing belonging to Susan Stolls.

Don wanted to be the one to interrogate him but Mac had put his foot down saying someone without a wish to kill him right then and there should do it. They had to first and foremost get him to tell them where the three women were, hoping a coroner wouldn't be necessary.

"You've done enough damage, just tell us where they are", a Det.O'Brian was questioning him.

The whole team was standing behind the glass listening and ready to run to their cars if he revealed the location.

"Are they suffering?". He spoke in calm voice.

"Who?"

"The three police officers"

The detective didn't answer him.

"…Good" and he grinned.

Standing behind the glass several curse words were uttered,

"That's all he's going to say", Mac said what everyone was thinking, "I'm going back to the evidence, we're not going to get anything from him"

Stella left the small room with him.

The interrogation went on and on, but Wellston didn't mention anything they could use. At this point they were just hoping he would slip up as time went by, but he seemed to be entertained by the fact they hadn't found them yet.

"Why did you do it then?"

"You know why!", he yelled and became aggravated, "I want those police to feel, to understand what I had to go through thanks to them!"

"They did their job, they can't save…"

"They didn't! They didn't! They spent the whole time questioning me, suspecting me! While my wife died alone in a cold basement…that's not fair"

"Well neither is taking your revenge out on three innocent women…tell us where they are?"

But Wellston only shook his head slowly.

After yet another hour Stella came running through the door looking with wild eyes at Don, Danny, Hawkes and Lindsay. She merely gestured with her hands finally yelling at them; "come on!"

"You know where…"

"Yes! Come one!", she dashed out and the others were right behind her.

Together with Adam they had backtracked Wellston's cars GPS system to a location by Riverdale Park out in the Bronx.

Thirty minutes later several police cars pulled on to a property with a large amount of abandoned warehouses, "everyone, spread out!"

Equipped with sledge hammers they hit off the padlocks on the doors and with their guns in their hands searched the warehouses.

Don, together with Danny and two other police officers, entered the first building; hopes went up but once inside it only took a quick glance to see it was empty.

"Damn! Come on, next one!", they ran to the next one.

The officer with the hammer missed the lock on the first throw, but Don was too impatient and grabbed the hammer from him and hit the lock making it fly off the door. Just as they were to sprint in they heard Mac,

"We've got them, Get the paramedics over here now!"

'_Paramedics, they're alive', _Don ran over to where Mac had shouted from, looking in what he saw made his insides sink. He could see three pale forms all lying down on the floor, now surrounded by police. As the paramedics ran past him his mind caught up with his body and he ran to Mac and Stella who were kneeling. He fell to his knees as he saw it was Amy, clad in his white shirt that was spotted with blood.

"I've got a weak pulse", one of the paramedics said out loud as they got ready to lift her on to a gurney.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAP 7**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or the characters, only Amy.**

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It was dark in the room when Amy opened her eyes. It took a while to realise she wasn't dreaming, she was in fact in a hospital room. She breathed a sigh of relief; they had been found. Still just lying in the bed staring at the ceiling she thought back to what she remembered before waking up here. She felt chills run down her spine as she could still feel the damp cold air from the warehouse; the cold that had seeped into her body all the way into her bones. She took another deep breath just to reassure herself that she could breathe at ease now.

The last memories she had from the warehouse were of Susan's sobs growing fainter and her attempts of yelling for her to not to fall asleep, but obviously in vain.

She looked around the darkened room; the only light was coming from the window out towards the hospital corridor. And slumped in a chair, too small for him, was Don, she was surprised to see him and that his snoring hadn't woken her sooner. She carefully pulled her self up to a more upright position and felt her head pounding as if she was hung-over. She waited a few seconds until the pounding subsided, she then looked around finding an empty Kleenex box which she quietly picked up and threw at the sleeping figure in the chair.

"Knock it off…", he mumbled, but raised his head as Amy snorted to cover up her laughter, "Hi there…how you feeling?", he pulled the chair closer to the bed.

"Tired and a bit sore", she looked down at her arms that were rolled up in bandages, she smiled at him, "You guys found us".

"Yeah, sorry it took so long", he took her hand in his, "you really scared us you know; we thought we'd never see you again".

"I was scared too…", she gripped his hand more tightly, "how's Susan? She's ok right?"

He nodded and she felt relieved. They sat in a comfortable silence, her hand still in his, but with a soft knock at the door he removed his hand from hers.

"You're awake, I'm glad you're ok Amy", Stella entered the room followed by Hawkes, Lindsay and Danny. As hugs and greetings were exchanged Amy was given a short version of how they found the guy, why he did it and how they found them.

"Mac sends his regards; he's with the DA making sure there are no holes in the prosecution, we don't want him getting out of this because of a technicality or a plea mental instability"

"Good, that's good…", Amy was feeling clear and had started fidgeting with the edge of her sheet, "can someone find out when I can get out of here?"

Hawkes headed to the door, "I'll go see".

As Danny and Lindsay sat on the edge of Amy's bed making small talk Stella took a seat next to Don, she took one look at him and he sighed, she didn't even have to say a word, he knew what she was getting at, "I know Stell…"

"Well I don't think you do Don, you could have lost her forever, not many people get second chances like this. It's a sign don't you think?", she nudged him with her elbow.

But before Don could begin to explain that now wasn't a good time Hawkes returned with Doctor. Furrows, he wore glasses and had grey hair and the kind of smile you saw on sweet old grandfathers on TV.

"Eager to leave Mrs.Flack? Well I see no harm in that, you suffered only from mild hypothermia and looking at your vital signs and the fact that you're quite alert I think it's safe to discharge you."

"Thank you…"

"But, it's bed rest, no heavy activities and wait a week until you go back to work, agreed?", he looked sternly at Amy making her feel like she was six years old and promising not to eat any sweets before dinner, "yes, of course".

He scribbled on her chart, "and make sure your husband there gets some rest too, you've been out of it for about two days now and he's been here the whole time, that's not healthy young man", he said to Don as he pointed his pen at him. "Good day to you all".

Danny sniggered as the doctor left the room, "_young man_" he said pointing with a mock stern look at Don.

Stella laughed along with the others, "well I guess that's good news then", she picked up her bag, "I'll tell Mac you'll be back in the lab in a week, take care of her Don".

"I will, see you guys tomorrow", their three colleagues left leaving them alone once again.

"Two days! I've been lying here asleep for _two days_!" she felt flabbergasted, she just assumed she been asleep through the night, "and you've been here the whole time?"

He was pulling out a bag from under the bed, "yeah well……here, I got some cloths for you. I'll go fill out your discharge papers while you change, as your husband I'm allowed to do that", he smiled, his mood was much lighter now that he knew she was awake and given the ok to go home.

She opened the bag and pulled out the cloths, smiling she thought it was real sweet of him to have sat by her side for almost two days. Pulling on a comfy cardigan a thought struck her,_ would an 'only friend' have done that?_

"You decent?", Don was poking his head through the door with his eyes closed.

"Yes, ready to go?"

The warm air in the car made Amy sleepy again, she couldn't wait to curl up in her own bed. She stole a glance at Don who was looking at the traffic, "what won't you do for me?" she asked quietly.

Without looking at her he smiled, "fly, hate flying".

"Ok, but seriously, you've done so much for me, why?"

"I want to, and I care about you. I was able to help you and I did", still with is eyes on the road.

"You care about me?"

"Of course I do, we all do, you know that"

"Yeah, but it wasn't Mac or Stella who sat by my side for almost _two days_ waiting for me to wake up", she didn't know what she wanted him to say, maybe she wanted him to confess the feelings she had, the same feelings she hoped he also had.

He was quiet for a while, contemplating his answer, "as your husband I was the only one they were allowed to give information to about your condition", he hoped that that answer would satisfy her.

She merely nodded, a little disappointed, that conversation could have lead to some interesting revelations. She looked out the window with a frown as the car stopped, "where are we?"

"They haven't cleaned out your building since the fire, so that only left one option really, my place", he got out of the car.

His apartment looked a lot like she thought it would, brown worn leather furniture and shelves filled with photos and books, cosy yet manly.

"You hungry?", he called from the kitchen, she walked from the living room into the kitchen finding him looking through the cupboards, "tho' it looks like we have to order take out, Chinese or Japanese?"

Twenty minutes later they sat bunched in the couch with several take away boxes littering the small coffee table, playing "_guess what_".

"Here, what's this?", she took a piece of 'unagi' and feed it to Don who had his eyes closed. Trying real hard to hold in her laughter she watched him chew it and swallow, "is it something with chicken?", he said.

She doubled over laughing and in between breaths, "you, you…ate the…eel!", her laughter increased as he started spitting into an empty takeout box and almost emptying a whole bottle of beer. She was still laughing when he flung a piece of deep fried pork at her in which she stopped abruptly, "Hey!". Grabbing the nearest box she flung its contents at him, the contents being cold noodles with some kind of meat in it. The food fight ended only when most of the containers were empty and they were drenched in various Japanese dishes.

Don lay on the floor having slid off the couch during the fight and Amy sat on the other side of the coffee table. She crawled over to him looking down at him, "you have shrimp in your hair you know that right?", she smiled a wicked smile.

"And you have what I think is Tonjiru soup in yours and it's dripping on me"

"We smell tasty anyway", she shook her head a little to let more drops of the soup fall onto his face.

Her eyes locked with his, those eyes, the eyes that seemed to have all the answers to her every problem, those eyes told her what she unknowingly knew; she cared about him too.

She dipped down and briefly let her lips meet with his, pulling back the expression on his face was frozen.

"I care about you too", she said quietly before pulling herself up, she offered her hand out to Don and helped him up.

"Let's clean up the worst of this mess and then head for bed", she went to the kitchen to get a cloth, leaving him standing there.

She had beaten him to it, he had been laying there on the floor looking up at her, feeling drops of soup falling down on him. His gaze had gone from her eyes to her lips and his mind emptied completely except from the urge to kiss her. But it didn't matter who kissed who first, they had kissed.

He was standing on the same spot when Amy called for him, "do you have any cleaning stuff?"

He walked into the kitchen, "What was that? And you said you care about me too, what do you mean when you say '_care_'?"

"The same as when you say you care about me I suppose…", she replied acting nonchalantly as she continued opening and closing different cupboards. Finding what she was looking for she handed him a cloth and went back into the living room, she hid it but she was dying to know what he would respond to what she said, hopefully she had put him on the spot.

He followed her back into the room, walking up to her he took the cleaning product and cloth from her and put it down on the table, putting his hands on her shoulders, "I say '_care_' but…I mean something else", his voice was soft and meaningful.

She smiled slyly, "same here".

"What are you trying to say then?"

"What are **_you_** trying to say?"

They stood staring at each other, waiting for the other to answer. Then, after a minute of the staring game they smiled, realising neither of them wanted to take the first step.

"I think I say '_care_' because there isn't a word for what I really mean, but I know that I have…fallen for you …hard", she looked down at the floor, she said it, it was out there.

Moving his hands from her shoulders to her chin, tilting it to meet his eyes he smiled at her, "there are no words for it…", he leaned in and kissed her, not the swift kind they had just had on the floor, a passionate kiss. Running his hands around her waist she put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

When they broke apart they both had grins on their faces.

Amy yawned, though she tried to hide it.

"You must be tired, come on let's get you to bed. We'll continue this tomorrow"

He lent her a large t-shirt and let her change in peace but even though he had left the room the smile on her face didn't fade away, feeling really giddy she wanted to scream like a happy teenager but restrained herself.

"Here you go, jump in", he pulled down the cover for her.

"You're not going to sleep on the couch are you?"

"Only got one bed room", he said pulling an extra pillow out of the wardrobe.

"Don don't be silly, the couch reeks of take away. This is a double bed, besides, we're a "_married couple_" we're expected to sleep in the same bed.", jumping onto the bed and pulling the cover up she watched him standing there.

He looked at her, could he control himself lying so close to her? Did she even want him to try and control himself? Whatever it was he wasn't going to miss this opportunity to be close to her. He went and changed into a t-shirt and boxers.

When he got back her eyes were already closed. He slipped under the covers slowly as not to disturb her, but once in place she turned around, now facing him and moved closer.

He kissed her on her forehead at which her eyes fluttered open and with a smile kissed him on the lips, "who knew this would happen when we got married", she said with an even bigger smile.

"Yeah, who knew", with a last kiss they fell asleep, enjoying the best sleep any of them had had in weeks.

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_**AN:** What will the people at work say? Stella going to say, "I knew it!"? What happens when a month passes and it's time to get that annulment?_

_A 'happily ever after'? Perhaps… or not! hahahaha._

_((Review so I know people are actually reading the story))_


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